J.K Rowling and the Benefits of Failure

I really don't understand all the fuss about the Harry Potter books. They're bad. Hard to read, even. And while I'm happy that they and Oprah are responsible for creating millions of new readers, it kidna scares me that adults like them (I can forgive the children, though not the smart ones). I'm not anti young-adult lit or kid lit--I'll read Lewis or Dahl any day. But Harry Potter hurts. Yes, as Harold Bloom noted, 35 million people (way more than that at this point) can be wrong. The two of us are right.

That said, I think J.K. Rowling is totally bad ass. I like her as much as I don't like her books. She just gave the commencement speech at Harvard, and though it has the standard 'go forth and conquer' fare, it really illuminates her as a person managed to inspire me on this overcast Friday. You can read and listen to her speech here.